Every great city with a robust economy in the US has at least one excellent university. Our City should partner and coordinate with our higher education institutions wherever possible.

Our community colleges, colleges and universities are a key part of our city, educating our next generation, providing research, partnering with schools, partnering with our community and attracting talent from outside of Portland. Higher education helps us to look outside of our comfort zone, to think about possibilities we might not have imagined before. They can inspire us. They can improve business competitiveness.

Our community colleges are also incredibly important to help educate Portlanders of many ages and increase the quality and expertise of our city's workforce.

The idea for my campaign started at the University of Oregon, Portland. On November 11, I was asked to be on a panel with several others to talk with students about their plans for the Portland Downtown Waterfront. I had made a comprehensive plan in 2004 for the area to activate the area and enliven downtown. Someone complimented me on my plan, but I wasn't happy at all about where we were. I had a plan for hundreds of housing units on the waterfront, and the only housing units to date were cardboard boxes or tents under the Burnside and Morrison Bridges. So, I was asked by students what it would take to bring housing to downtown and the waterfront by the students. I described two ideas that would make housing probably happen. As I spoke, I realized that City Hall/PDC had lacked the follow through and negotiating skills to make our project see success. A student in the back row all of a sudden yelled at me, "you should run for mayor, you'd have 40 votes in this room."

I have done many projects for Portland State University, OHSU and the University of Oregon. Some projects at PSU tied to partnerships with Oregon businesses. I have also been on panels and juries at both PSU and U of O.